Financial Software Developer Interview Experience - London, United Kingdom
March 1, 2016
Positive ExperienceNo Offer
Process
Technical telephone interview:
My preferred language was Java, so I was asked about object-oriented design, garbage collection, and some language constructs. It was really easy stuff. Then, we moved on to coding on HackerRank, where the interviewer asked me to write a program to print out pairs of numbers from an array that added up to a target value.
In-person interview at Bloomberg offices (London):
The day began with a casual breakfast with some of the engineers, where you're given an opportunity to chat informally and get to know them a little. After that, you go to a room with a computer for the technical interview. There will be two engineers, and you will be asked to solve a coding problem. Mine was to perform a deep copy of a singly-linked list that had random jumps. The other task was to find a bug in a section of code. Nothing too daunting.
Questions
Write a function to print out pairs of numbers from an input array that add up to a certain target value. Analyze its running time and suggest improvements if it is more than O(n).
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 29 interview experiences for the Bloomberg LP Financial Software Developer role in London, United Kingdom.
Success Rate
38%
Pass Rate
Bloomberg LP's interview process for their Financial Software Developer roles in London, the United Kingdom is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Positive66%
Neutral31%
Negative3%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Bloomberg LP's Financial Software Developer interview process in London, United Kingdom.
Bloomberg LP Work Experiences
4.0
Good pay, benefits, and job security; bad technology
Financial Software Developer • Current Employee
New York, New York, United States
October 1, 2012
Pros: Pay is good. Business is slowing down now, but even during the financial crisis, I got pretty good pay and bonuses. A lot of my coworkers quit and work for Google, and they're getting less vacation and about the same salary.
Good benefits. Four weeks vacation, good medical and dental insurance (used to be free, but now it's $400 a year or so), and other perks like free entrance to museums and occasional tickets to high-society type events through the company's philanthropy.
Nice office in a nice location, with beautiful tropical fish and free snacks.
Cons: The technologies they are using are outdated and mostly proprietary. You can become an expert in those technologies, and it will make you more valuable to Bloomberg, but not to anyone else. Perhaps not if you work in a few groups (mobile, bloomberg.com, Bloomberg Government) which use mainstream technologies, but the vast majority of programmers are working on the Bloomberg Terminal, which doesn't really use any modern, marketable technology.
Good job security has a price: there are a lot of really bad programmers who break things or never get any work done, and they never get fired. Depending on your team, you could work with smart people, but you might also work with a lot of dumb people.
Hours can be long, and you're pretty much expected to be on-call 24/7, ready to log in and debug issues at 4 AM when the London market opens. It's a global business, but most software teams are only in New York, and in some teams, you can get woken up very frequently to fix overseas issues.
2.0
A good place to start, but a difficult place to stay
Financial Software Developer • Current Employee
New York, New York, United States
September 10, 2010
Pros: Pay and benefits are top-notch, with bonuses very good compared to a lot of software jobs.
The building is amazing.
Snacks are okay (but they get you fat).
Free entry into NY museums and cultural events.
A lot of very smart people, and the work will definitely keep you busy.
You get code into production fast compared to many software jobs, where the turn-around on a project might be months to years.
At Bloomberg, many projects last weeks.
Cons: Technology is extremely proprietary. You're not working with open-source technology, or even Microsoft tools. You're working with Bloomberg-specific technologies, many of which date back to hacky solutions from the early 80s. A lot of the new stuff is poorly documented and in a constant state of flux. I often am jealous of my friends who get to work with more interesting technology, even though I'm better compensated.
The management is a bit lacking. The structure is very loose (which can be a good thing), but sometimes things feel disorganized. They don't employ any software methodologies or processes, so even though they use rapid development, projects are poorly organized and lack planning and testing. This also can make projects more stressful than they need to be.
4.0
Great life & work balance
Financial Software Developer • Current Employee
June 23, 2022
Pros: relaxed, great team culture, and great benefits.
Cons: Pay is relatively low, no stock.
- 4.0Good pay, benefits, and job security; bad technologyFinancial Software Developer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesOctober 1, 2012Pros: Pay is good. Business is slowing down now, but even during the financial crisis, I got pretty good pay and bonuses. A lot of my coworkers quit and work for Google, and they're getting less vacation and about the same salary. Good benefits. Four weeks vacation, good medical and dental insurance (used to be free, but now it's $400 a year or so), and other perks like free entrance to museums and occasional tickets to high-society type events through the company's philanthropy. Nice office in a nice location, with beautiful tropical fish and free snacks.Cons: The technologies they are using are outdated and mostly proprietary. You can become an expert in those technologies, and it will make you more valuable to Bloomberg, but not to anyone else. Perhaps not if you work in a few groups (mobile, bloomberg.com, Bloomberg Government) which use mainstream technologies, but the vast majority of programmers are working on the Bloomberg Terminal, which doesn't really use any modern, marketable technology. Good job security has a price: there are a lot of really bad programmers who break things or never get any work done, and they never get fired. Depending on your team, you could work with smart people, but you might also work with a lot of dumb people. Hours can be long, and you're pretty much expected to be on-call 24/7, ready to log in and debug issues at 4 AM when the London market opens. It's a global business, but most software teams are only in New York, and in some teams, you can get woken up very frequently to fix overseas issues.
- 2.0A good place to start, but a difficult place to stayFinancial Software Developer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesSeptember 10, 2010Pros: Pay and benefits are top-notch, with bonuses very good compared to a lot of software jobs. The building is amazing. Snacks are okay (but they get you fat). Free entry into NY museums and cultural events. A lot of very smart people, and the work will definitely keep you busy. You get code into production fast compared to many software jobs, where the turn-around on a project might be months to years. At Bloomberg, many projects last weeks.Cons: Technology is extremely proprietary. You're not working with open-source technology, or even Microsoft tools. You're working with Bloomberg-specific technologies, many of which date back to hacky solutions from the early 80s. A lot of the new stuff is poorly documented and in a constant state of flux. I often am jealous of my friends who get to work with more interesting technology, even though I'm better compensated. The management is a bit lacking. The structure is very loose (which can be a good thing), but sometimes things feel disorganized. They don't employ any software methodologies or processes, so even though they use rapid development, projects are poorly organized and lack planning and testing. This also can make projects more stressful than they need to be.
- 4.0Great life & work balanceFinancial Software Developer • Current EmployeeJune 23, 2022Pros: relaxed, great team culture, and great benefits.Cons: Pay is relatively low, no stock.
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